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500 DIONYSIUS THE PSEUDO-AREOPAGITE WRITES Dionysius the Psuedo-Areopagite is the name given to an author who lived in the fourth or fifth century whose writings were initially attributed to Dionysius of Athens (Acts 17:34). The author was a mystical theologian whose works had a marked impact on the theology of the Middle Ages. His writings attempted a synthesis of theology and Neoplatonist philosophy. Central themes were the union between man and God and the progressive deification of man in which the soul is illuminated and ultimately given knowledge of God. He also taught that man is increasingly related to God by a series of graded levels corresponding to the hierarchy of the church. These hierarchies are designed to lead man to his deification.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
520 IRISH MONASTERIES FLOURISH Ireland was the center of vigorous missions-minded monasticism. Developing independently of Roman Catholicism, the Irish church was organized around monasteries, which were the centers of learning. The Bible was the primary subject of study, and Latin was the language of education. The Irish monasteries sent missionaries throughout their world—to the Orkney and Faroe Islands, to Scotland, Germany, Gaul (France), and even to Italy. They went individually and in groups. Some were missionaries to pagans, others to nominal Christian populations. Their independence often made them an irritant to the Roman Catholic hierarchy. But they were so numerous that they remained a continuing influence in Western Europe until 950.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
524 BOETHIUS WRITES THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius was born about 480 to a noble Roman family and was educated in Athens and Alexandria. Boethius, a great intellectual, was an advisor to Theodoric the Ostrogoth king who began his rule in Italy in 493. In 523, Boethius was promoted to one of the most influential offices in the realm, but the next year he suddenly fell from favor and was sentenced to die for treason. The reason may have been that Theodoric was an Arian, believing Christ was a created being and not eternal, while Boethius and those arrested with him were orthodox Christians. While awaiting execution, Boethius wrote his most well known work, The Consolation of Philosophy, in which he described philosophy's role in leading a soul to God, without ever mentioning Christ or the Bible. This and other writings of Boethius strongly influenced the tone of intellectual life in the Middle Ages.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
529 JUSTINIAN'S CODE IS PUBLISHED The greatest of all the Byzantine Roman emperors, Justinian I, was born in 483 and succeeded his uncle Justin I as emperor in 527. Throughout his reign he was an energetic champion of Nicene orthodoxy, even though his wife, Theodora, was a Monophysite, emphasizing only Christ's divine nature. Upon becoming emperor, Justinian found the laws of the empire in disarray and appointed a panel often legal experts to consolidate Roman law. He declared the results of their successful effort in what has come to be known as the Justinian Code. This codification became the basic collection of Roman law, and it greatly influenced the development of canon law in the Western church.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
529 THE SECOND COUNCIL OF ORANGE MEETS There were two Councils of Orange in southern France. The first, held in 441, dealt primarily with disciplinary matters. The second, held in 529, addressed the heresy of Semi-Pelagianism. Pelagius had been a monk active in Rome (383-410) who had rejected the doctrines of original sin and predestination. Instead, he promoted the concepts of man's free will and natural capacity for good. Later followers of Pelagius, alarmed that Augustine's view of predestination seemed to undermine free will, developed a view known as Semi-Pelagianism in which the initial steps toward salvation were the result of the human will, with divine grace coming into play later. The Second Council of Orange ruled in favor of the view of Augustine, that every step toward salvation is the result of God's grace, not man's will.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
540 BENEDICT WRITES HIS MONASTIC RULE Born in approximately 480, Benedict of Nursia was educated in Rome. He found the immorality of the city so offensive that before he had finished his studies, he went to live as a hermit in a cave near Subiaco. Twice he became the abbot for a group of monks in the area. In about 520, Benedict established the monastery of Monte Casino where he spent the rest of his life. There, in about 540, he wrote the Rule for the monastery. The Rule became the constitution of the Benedictine order. Every monastery was to be self-supporting under the direction of an abbot. In the Rule, Benedict attempted to create an atmosphere where ordinary men could serve God and grow spiritually through a balanced life of work, reading, prayer, and worship. The Rule established a pattern for life in the monasteries of Europe.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
544 DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS, INVENTOR OF DATING SYSTEM, DIES Dionysius, a Scythian monk who called himself Exiguus (the less) out of humility, arrived in Rome shortly after 496. His summary of canon law was the first to gain wide usage and was used as late as the twelfth century. When called upon to create a new calendar for dating Easter in succeeding years, Dionysius abandoned the method of calculating it from the Jewish date of Passover, since with that method Easter didn't always fall on Sunday. He calculated the date from what he supposed to be the birth of Jesus. Although he was a few years off in his estimation of Jesus' birth, the date determined by Dionysius for the Incarnation is the basis of the Anno Domini system still used today.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
553 THE SECOND COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE MEETS The Council of Chalcedon in 451 had determined that Christ had two natures, human and divine. It proclaimed him true God and true man in one person. Opposition to this doctrine became known as "Monophysitism," the term coming from the Greek words mono meaning "only" and fusis meaning "nature." Monophysites downplayed the humanity of Jesus and emphasized the unity of his divine nature. Monophysitism was particularly popular in Egypt and the Middle East. Emperors Justin I and Justinian I appointed orthodox bishops in these areas, but they required police protection to stay in power. Then Emperor Justinian switched tactics—due in part to his Monophysite wife, Theodora—condemning three writings of orthodox theologians, called The Three Chapters. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553, the fifth ecumenical council, followed Justinian's lead and moved closer to the Monophysite position by condemning The Three Chapters. The council also affirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
563 COLUMBA EVANGELIZES SCOTLAND Columba was born in Ireland in 521 to parents of royal lineage. After being educated in monastic schools and recognized as a scholar, he was ordained as a priest and spent nearly twenty years in Ireland as an evangelist, church planter, and founder of monasteries. In 563, Columba and twelve Irish monks moved to the small island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. There he founded a monastery whose purpose was to train evangelists to bring the gospel to Scotland. His monks played a central role in the evangelization of Scotland and England. He also encouraged the copying of the Scriptures and reportedly made three hundred copies of the Vulgate himself. Though born to royalty, Columba chose to serve a higher King.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
THE CHRISTIAN MIDDLE AGES 590—1517
Most Christians saw the hand of God in the happy wedding of Christian church and Roman state. In the East the marriage continued for a millennium. A mystical piety flourished under the protection of Orthodox emperors until 1453, when invading Muslim Turks brought the Byzantine Empire to its final ruin. The fall of Constantinople, however, meant the rise of Moscow, the new capital of Eastern Orthodoxy.
It was a different story in the West. After the fifth century, when barbarian Germans and Huns shattered the Empire's defenses and swept into the eternal city of Rome itself, men turned to Augustine's City of God for explanations. They found a vision for a new age.
We call these centuries "medieval." People who lived in them considered them "Christian." Their reasons lay in the role of the pope, who stepped into the ruins of the fallen empire in the West and proceeded to build the medieval church upon Rome's bygone glory. As the only surviving link with the Roman past, the Church of Rome mobilized Benedictine monks and deployed them as missionary ambassadors to the German people. It took centuries, but the popes, aided by Christian princes, slowly pacified and baptized a continent and called it Christendom, or Christian Europe.
BRUCE L. SHELLEY
594—Paper invented in China
1066—Pantheon built in Rome
1200—Earliest Sanskrit inscribed in India
1300—Emperor Marcus Aurelius reigns
1435—First African slaves brought to Europe
1475—First book printed in English
1506-7—First maps of New World created
1517—Ottomans conquer Egypt
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
590 GREGORY THE GREAT IS ELECTED POPE
Born in Rome, Gregory (540-604) grew up in an educated Christian home. In 570, he became the prefect of Rome but gave that up to found seven monasteries, one of which he entered himself about 575. After being ordained as a deacon, he was elected pope in 590, becoming Gregory I. As pope, Gregory assumed many duties normally administered by civil authorities, thus taking an important step toward the forming of the Papal States. In church affairs Gregory maintained that God had entrusted the pope with caring for the entire church and therefore had universal jurisdiction over it. Gregory also had a major role in organizing and codifying Roman liturgy and music. The Gregorian Chant is named after him.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
597 AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY EMBARKS ON A MISSION TO ENGLAND
Augustine (d. 604), having taken the name of the earlier bishop, was the prior of the St. Andrews monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) commissioned him in 596 to convert pagan England. Stopping along the way in Gaul (modern-day France), he arrived in England. He was welcomed by Athelbert (552-616), the king of Kent, whose wife was already a Christian. Within a short period of time, Athelbert and hundreds of his subjects were converted to Christ. In the same year, Augustine traveled to France to be consecrated as the first archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory later made him metropolitan bishop of England. Augustine failed to win the allegiance of the Celtic church but was successful in spreading the gospel in Kent, eventually leading to the evangelization of all England.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
520 IRISH MONASTERIES FLOURISH Ireland was the center of vigorous missions-minded monasticism. Developing independently of Roman Catholicism, the Irish church was organized around monasteries, which were the centers of learning. The Bible was the primary subject of study, and Latin was the language of education. The Irish monasteries sent missionaries throughout their world—to the Orkney and Faroe Islands, to Scotland, Germany, Gaul (France), and even to Italy. They went individually and in groups. Some were missionaries to pagans, others to nominal Christian populations. Their independence often made them an irritant to the Roman Catholic hierarchy. But they were so numerous that they remained a continuing influence in Western Europe until 950.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
524 BOETHIUS WRITES THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius was born about 480 to a noble Roman family and was educated in Athens and Alexandria. Boethius, a great intellectual, was an advisor to Theodoric the Ostrogoth king who began his rule in Italy in 493. In 523, Boethius was promoted to one of the most influential offices in the realm, but the next year he suddenly fell from favor and was sentenced to die for treason. The reason may have been that Theodoric was an Arian, believing Christ was a created being and not eternal, while Boethius and those arrested with him were orthodox Christians. While awaiting execution, Boethius wrote his most well known work, The Consolation of Philosophy, in which he described philosophy's role in leading a soul to God, without ever mentioning Christ or the Bible. This and other writings of Boethius strongly influenced the tone of intellectual life in the Middle Ages.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
529 JUSTINIAN'S CODE IS PUBLISHED The greatest of all the Byzantine Roman emperors, Justinian I, was born in 483 and succeeded his uncle Justin I as emperor in 527. Throughout his reign he was an energetic champion of Nicene orthodoxy, even though his wife, Theodora, was a Monophysite, emphasizing only Christ's divine nature. Upon becoming emperor, Justinian found the laws of the empire in disarray and appointed a panel often legal experts to consolidate Roman law. He declared the results of their successful effort in what has come to be known as the Justinian Code. This codification became the basic collection of Roman law, and it greatly influenced the development of canon law in the Western church.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
529 THE SECOND COUNCIL OF ORANGE MEETS There were two Councils of Orange in southern France. The first, held in 441, dealt primarily with disciplinary matters. The second, held in 529, addressed the heresy of Semi-Pelagianism. Pelagius had been a monk active in Rome (383-410) who had rejected the doctrines of original sin and predestination. Instead, he promoted the concepts of man's free will and natural capacity for good. Later followers of Pelagius, alarmed that Augustine's view of predestination seemed to undermine free will, developed a view known as Semi-Pelagianism in which the initial steps toward salvation were the result of the human will, with divine grace coming into play later. The Second Council of Orange ruled in favor of the view of Augustine, that every step toward salvation is the result of God's grace, not man's will.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
540 BENEDICT WRITES HIS MONASTIC RULE Born in approximately 480, Benedict of Nursia was educated in Rome. He found the immorality of the city so offensive that before he had finished his studies, he went to live as a hermit in a cave near Subiaco. Twice he became the abbot for a group of monks in the area. In about 520, Benedict established the monastery of Monte Casino where he spent the rest of his life. There, in about 540, he wrote the Rule for the monastery. The Rule became the constitution of the Benedictine order. Every monastery was to be self-supporting under the direction of an abbot. In the Rule, Benedict attempted to create an atmosphere where ordinary men could serve God and grow spiritually through a balanced life of work, reading, prayer, and worship. The Rule established a pattern for life in the monasteries of Europe.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
544 DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS, INVENTOR OF DATING SYSTEM, DIES Dionysius, a Scythian monk who called himself Exiguus (the less) out of humility, arrived in Rome shortly after 496. His summary of canon law was the first to gain wide usage and was used as late as the twelfth century. When called upon to create a new calendar for dating Easter in succeeding years, Dionysius abandoned the method of calculating it from the Jewish date of Passover, since with that method Easter didn't always fall on Sunday. He calculated the date from what he supposed to be the birth of Jesus. Although he was a few years off in his estimation of Jesus' birth, the date determined by Dionysius for the Incarnation is the basis of the Anno Domini system still used today.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
553 THE SECOND COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE MEETS The Council of Chalcedon in 451 had determined that Christ had two natures, human and divine. It proclaimed him true God and true man in one person. Opposition to this doctrine became known as "Monophysitism," the term coming from the Greek words mono meaning "only" and fusis meaning "nature." Monophysites downplayed the humanity of Jesus and emphasized the unity of his divine nature. Monophysitism was particularly popular in Egypt and the Middle East. Emperors Justin I and Justinian I appointed orthodox bishops in these areas, but they required police protection to stay in power. Then Emperor Justinian switched tactics—due in part to his Monophysite wife, Theodora—condemning three writings of orthodox theologians, called The Three Chapters. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553, the fifth ecumenical council, followed Justinian's lead and moved closer to the Monophysite position by condemning The Three Chapters. The council also affirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
563 COLUMBA EVANGELIZES SCOTLAND Columba was born in Ireland in 521 to parents of royal lineage. After being educated in monastic schools and recognized as a scholar, he was ordained as a priest and spent nearly twenty years in Ireland as an evangelist, church planter, and founder of monasteries. In 563, Columba and twelve Irish monks moved to the small island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. There he founded a monastery whose purpose was to train evangelists to bring the gospel to Scotland. His monks played a central role in the evangelization of Scotland and England. He also encouraged the copying of the Scriptures and reportedly made three hundred copies of the Vulgate himself. Though born to royalty, Columba chose to serve a higher King.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
THE CHRISTIAN MIDDLE AGES 590—1517
Most Christians saw the hand of God in the happy wedding of Christian church and Roman state. In the East the marriage continued for a millennium. A mystical piety flourished under the protection of Orthodox emperors until 1453, when invading Muslim Turks brought the Byzantine Empire to its final ruin. The fall of Constantinople, however, meant the rise of Moscow, the new capital of Eastern Orthodoxy.
It was a different story in the West. After the fifth century, when barbarian Germans and Huns shattered the Empire's defenses and swept into the eternal city of Rome itself, men turned to Augustine's City of God for explanations. They found a vision for a new age.
We call these centuries "medieval." People who lived in them considered them "Christian." Their reasons lay in the role of the pope, who stepped into the ruins of the fallen empire in the West and proceeded to build the medieval church upon Rome's bygone glory. As the only surviving link with the Roman past, the Church of Rome mobilized Benedictine monks and deployed them as missionary ambassadors to the German people. It took centuries, but the popes, aided by Christian princes, slowly pacified and baptized a continent and called it Christendom, or Christian Europe.
BRUCE L. SHELLEY
594—Paper invented in China
1066—Pantheon built in Rome
1200—Earliest Sanskrit inscribed in India
1300—Emperor Marcus Aurelius reigns
1435—First African slaves brought to Europe
1475—First book printed in English
1506-7—First maps of New World created
1517—Ottomans conquer Egypt
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
590 GREGORY THE GREAT IS ELECTED POPE
Born in Rome, Gregory (540-604) grew up in an educated Christian home. In 570, he became the prefect of Rome but gave that up to found seven monasteries, one of which he entered himself about 575. After being ordained as a deacon, he was elected pope in 590, becoming Gregory I. As pope, Gregory assumed many duties normally administered by civil authorities, thus taking an important step toward the forming of the Papal States. In church affairs Gregory maintained that God had entrusted the pope with caring for the entire church and therefore had universal jurisdiction over it. Gregory also had a major role in organizing and codifying Roman liturgy and music. The Gregorian Chant is named after him.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The
597 AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY EMBARKS ON A MISSION TO ENGLAND
Augustine (d. 604), having taken the name of the earlier bishop, was the prior of the St. Andrews monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) commissioned him in 596 to convert pagan England. Stopping along the way in Gaul (modern-day France), he arrived in England. He was welcomed by Athelbert (552-616), the king of Kent, whose wife was already a Christian. Within a short period of time, Athelbert and hundreds of his subjects were converted to Christ. In the same year, Augustine traveled to France to be consecrated as the first archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory later made him metropolitan bishop of England. Augustine failed to win the allegiance of the Celtic church but was successful in spreading the gospel in Kent, eventually leading to the evangelization of all England.
—Complete Book of When and Where, The